


Honey I'm Still Free

by Telesilla



Category: Stargate Atlantis RPF
Genre: First Time, Future Fic, M/M, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-01
Updated: 2009-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-04 05:56:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telesilla/pseuds/Telesilla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four years after SGA was canceled, the Stargate producers are hoping that lightning can strike twice. Joe and David have their own agendas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Honey I'm Still Free

**Author's Note:**

  * For [m_lasha](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=m_lasha).



_November 14, 2013_

In the elevator after checking into the hotel, David pulled out his iPhone and shot off a quick text message. "at the Loden rm 523. call me. we should strategize."

The suite was nice, almost too nice, but David had wanted something different, something a little luxurious. He'd wanted, he realized as he tipped the bellhop, to impress someone, which was pretty ridiculous, really. After all, they'd spent five years working together, seeing each other at their best and worst. And now David thought a swaky hotel room would make a difference?

It might, he told himself. They were different people now, with different lives. This wouldn't be the easiest meeting and if David wanted a little armor, well then, it was probably worth the prices the Loden charged for a suite.

He'd showered and had just changed into jeans and a t-shirt when his phone rang. "Hey," he said after glancing at the number. "Where are you?"

"Right outside your door."

"Asshole," David said. He ended the call as he pulled the door open. "Why not just knock or something?"

"You said to call."

"You're such a dork." David shook his head. "C'mon in. Want a beer?"

"Yeah, that'd be great."

And then they were popping beers open and looking at one another, and really, it could have been a room in a Motel 6 for all David cared.

"You look good," he said, as if he didn't know, as if he didn't tune in to NBC every week during the season to watch _Thoughtcrimes._

"You've got more hair than you did last I saw you," Joe said.

"Well that was, what? Two and a half years ago?" He ran a hand through his hair. "Rogaine's been very good to me."

"Yeah?" Joe sat down on the sofa with a sigh. "So it's not just a particularly good rug?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Ha ha ha, no. Did you just get in?"

"Yeah, and man are my wings tired."

"You're funny tonight."

"I'm here all week. And please, don't forget to tip your waitresses," Joe replied and David rolled his eyes.

"Speaking of food, are you hungry?"

There was a silence after David called in the order to room service, a silence he didn't know how to break. It was weird to be sitting here with Joe and not have a con to worry about and gear up for.

"How's Baz?" Joe finally asked.

David grinned and pulled out his iPhone. "He's great! I've got some pictures from his last birthday party."

Joe pulled out his phone as well and they spent a while catching one another up on their various offspring.

By the time dinner came, they'd each started a second beer and David, at least, felt a little more relaxed.

"And so Kate and I are working on this thing; it's a dark comedy that takes place in a ski resort," he was saying. "And there's an idea I had for an urban fantasy story; I'm not sure where that's going yet."

"I really liked _Design of the Dead_," Joe said. "It was so...you."

"It's the best thing I've done," David said, and yeah, just as he'd expected, Joe laughed at the lack of modesty. "Too bad it killed my marriage."

"Oh...I'm sorry."

David shrugged. "The more movies we made together the more we realized that we were a great creative team and that I am, in fact, impossible to live with." He sighed. "It would have been different if we had normal jobs and didn't spend all day working together. As it was...it wasn't easy, but what are you going to do? I tried to change and tone it down, but...." He shrugged again. "I've been me too long to try and be anyone else."

"Sounds familiar." Joe took a long drink of beer and David managed to keep quiet. If Joe wanted to talk, he would, but David remembered that you had to give him space and quiet, otherwise, he'd be happy to let you talk right over him.

"I met this guy," he finally said. "And Kathryn...well, you know, she was okay with the buddy fuck thing."

Kathryn had, in fact, been more okay with Joe and Jason's buddy fuck thing than David had been, although he didn't think anyone other than Jane had picked up on it. It was the ease of it that had been hard to take, the way that they'd tumbled into bed and hung out and surfed and been pals and then had each gone back to the women in their lives like everything was fine. David didn't do that, he'd never figured out the knack of casual sex, not to mention that his experience with men was pretty limited.

He'd wanted to hate Jason when he first realized what was going on, but Jason was one of those people it was almost impossible to dislike and anyway, the more David had thought about it, the more he realized that part of his problem was Rodney, spilling over into David's consciousness. Rodney, who David had never meant to play as bisexual, but who had wanted John Sheppard in a strange, somewhat hopeless way. Characters, David had learned over the years, were weird like that.

But now, in spite of why they were here, Rodney wasn't taking up space in David's head, wasn't an inch or so under his skin. And David...David still wanted Joe.

"Anyway," Joe was saying. "This guy I met, Adam, was...I thought it was more serious." His mouth twisted into a bitter little smile. "So did Kathryn. In fact, Adam was the only one who didn't think what we had was serious."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I was too. And Kathryn, well, she was only willing to put up with so much. I can't really blame her; it wasn't fair for her to have to do all the heavy lifting. I love the kids, I really do, and I like her, but the fact is, I'm just not straight and I got tired of pretending.

"I mean there I was, a gay man trying to decide whether I should give money to Palin or Huckabee and making my wife miserable because I was pining over some goddamn twink. When your marriage turns into a drama that should run on Lifetime, it's time to do something."

"Yeah," David said.

"I'm still not out, of course; I'm a little too... I don't know, old-fashioned?"

"Well also, you're the sexy lead in a popular show. You and Navi have some nice chemistry going on. I can't blame you for not wanting to mess with that."

"That show's pretty much saved my life; I can't believe how lucky I was that it got a second chance. And Navi...." He smiled a little. "She's decided that I'm the perfect gay BFF."

Joe paused and looked at his plate in surprise as if he'd forgotten that it was there. As he picked up his sandwhich and started eating, David couldn't help asking a question that had been bugging him since he'd heard about Joe and Kathryn's divorce.

"You see much of Jason these days?"

"I was his best man," Joe said with a genuine smile. "He and Lisa...it's the real thing and even though she's cool, I don't want Jason to mess it up for the sake of some occasional hot sex."

Joe went back to his sandwich and David picked at his fries, hoping his relief wasn't too obvious. After another long pause, he spoke.

"You think we can do this again?"

"It depends on the scripts and the timing. I'm lucky that I'm on an NBC project, but still, the fact that I'm already working full time is going to have to be taken into account." Joe grinned, and for a moment he looked a little like a shark. "What are you going to demand?"

"Some creative control," David said, grinning back. "I think I want to direct an episode or two. And I won't do it without Rachel and Jason; if they don't ask them back, no dice. Oh, and David, of course."

"Well yeah, that goes without saying. I know Richard's got that law drama, but don't know if Kavan is busy."

"Oh, he's in that comedy thing with Paul, the one about the Mounties; Kate guest starred in a couple of episodes and I've been on it a few times. I don't know what their schedule is like. And of course Jewel's doing _Dollhouse_; I don't think we could get her back."

"That'll be tough for McKay," Joe said and his smirk was pure Sheppard.

"I want to play him a little older and wiser," David said. "We killed off Keller in that one episode; I was thinking maybe they could do that for real and give McKay a tragedy in his past."

"They'd probably go for it, since I gather the whole relationship thing didn't work out for all hat well for them in _Universe_."

"You know? I feel bad for the kids, but I must be a terrible person because I'm glad the damn thing tanked."

"Did you ever watch it?"

David nodded. "Yeah, every week for the first half of the first season. There wasn't enough science fiction in it for me." He shook his head. "That's one of the things I want to see them do with us; we were at our best when they remembered that the characters were living in an alien city exploring alien worlds."

"You think they're going to listen to us?"

Leaning forward, David gave Joe a serious look. "Without Sheppard and McKay, it's not _Stargate: Atlantis._ They need us and since we're both doing just fine, career-wise, they need us more than we need them. I think we have some serious leverage here and I think we can use it to make this a better show."

"You're actually enjoying this, aren't you?"

"What can I say?" David laughed a little. "They made a bad decision that affected a whole bunch of us and now they need us; I'm not going to pretend that I don't enjoy the schadenfreude of it all."

Joe grabbed another beer out of the six-pack and got to his feet. "I've missed it," he said, wandering over to the window. "Missed working here and missed working with you and everyone else. It was fun in a way that I don't have now. I mean I get along with everyone down in LA, but it's not....

"It's not a bunch of geeks making science fiction."

"Oh the irony," David said. "I remember how foreign the whole science fiction thing was to you when we first started filming."

"But that's it, you know? It was different and weird, but you and the crew made it seem so normal. You'd drop all this technobabble like it was real and that made it easy to just follow along."

"Flattery," David said, watching Joe as he stared out the window, "will get you anywhere." He paused. "It won't be the same, you know. It can't be."

"As long as you can keep spouting the technobabble, as long as you're just...you, I think it'll work." Joe turned and looked at David. "Not to put too much of a burden on you or anything."

"Thanks; I'm plenty good at doing that to myself."

"Yeah."

"Joe?" David finally had to ask when Joe didn't say anything more. "What's...are you okay?"

"I'm trying to figure out how to...." Joe tilted the bottle up for another long drink. "What it would take...what you would do if I just walked over to you right now and kissed you."

It wasn't a smooth line, not at all. And Joe wasn't being John or Brenden; there was no smirk or wide-eyed "never sees it coming" look. Joe sounded confused and a little worried, but underneath all that was something genuine and real.

"Surprised," David said after a moment spent staring at Joe. "I'd be very surprised. I _am_ very surprised. This is kind of coming out of nowhere."

"Not for me, it's not."

"I'm not...I don't...." Still not sure why on earth he was trying to talk Joe out of this, David shook his head. "I don't do this." But no, that wasn't right either.

"I mean I don't...it's not that I don't want you." David pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering what the hell was wrong with himself. "I just...look, I don't do one night stands and I haven't had sex with a guy since I was 17, and trust me I kind of hate myself right now for for telling you that."

David wasn't sure what to think when Joe chuckled.

"Don't ever change, okay?"

"Um...thank you? I think."

"At first," Joe said, still smiling just a little. "I thought it was a Sheppard thing, you know, me picking up something from the character. And then I thought it was just me missing the show. But, honestly, right now...believe me, it's just you."

"I didn't say I didn't believe you," David said. "I said that I don't do one night stands. I don't know how to leave it behind when morning comes. And you...it's all tangled up in the show and Rodney and Sheppard and you...I don't know where to start."

"Hey," Joe said, putting down his beer. He moved over to stand in front of David and then went down on his knees so they were face to face. "If I wanted casual, I'd go to a bar." He reached up and rested a hand on David's face, so lightly David could barely feel it. "I don't want this to be a problem. Tell me to stop, tell me you just want to be friends and nothing more, and I'll back off."

David's pulse was racing and he was short of breath and for a moment he was sure this was a dream or a fantasy, sure he'd wake up hard, frustrated and alone. But no, Joe smelled like beer and BLT and too many hours on a plane; he was too real, too present, to be part of a fantasy. And in David's fantasies, Joe never hesitated.

"I want," he said and then took a deep breath. "I want...." He leaned forward and pressed his lips against Joe's mouth. "I want," he said as Joe's long fingers flexed against his cheek, "you. This."

"Okay," Joe said and the feel of his mouth moving against David's had to be one of the hottest things ever. When Joe actually kissed him, it got even better and David leaned in and opened his mouth and maybe even moaned, just a little.

By the time Joe pulled back, they were both breathing hard.

"Jesus," David said, his face a little red. "I had no idea...."

"I...yeah. This isn't...." Joe leaned forward and kissed David again. "Really, this isn't casual, okay?"

"Okay," David said, leaning back and trying to catch his breath.

Joe sat back as well and David couldn't help looking down. Joe was hard, and when David looked up again, Joe gave him a rueful little smile. "Sorry."

"Are you kidding? I'm kind of flattered."

"Then I guess I should be too?" Joe glanced at David's lap and then grinned.

"Um...yeah."

Taking a deep breath, Joe leaned forward until his head was resting on David's knee. "I should go," he said and David could tell from his tone of voice that he'd stay if David asked him to; he'd stay and open up David's pants and bend his head down and....

"Is...is that okay?"

"Will it freak you out to learn that I'm gonna go down the hall to my room and jerk off?"

David swallowed hard. "Not at all. It's not like I won't be doing the same thing."

"God," Joe said. As he got to his feet, he reached down and took David's hands, pulling him up as well. And while it was a little weird to be with someone taller, David decided he liked it because there was Joe's neck, right there. He nuzzled it a little and Joe gasped.

"Don't."

"Sorry," David pulled back, afraid he'd done something stupid, but no, Joe was just looking a little dazed.

"Remember that spot for later," he said. "But now...."

"Meet me for breakfast tomorrow?" David asked.

"Yeah, sounds good." Joe gave him a quick kiss and then headed for the door. David followed him and managed to get in another kiss.

"You're sure about this?" Joe asked, his face serious. "Because if it's going to be weird or get in the way...."

"I'm sure," David said. "This time we'll do it, all of it, right."

_-end-_

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, a big "thank you" to Darkrose for the beta. [](http://m-lasha.livejournal.com/profile)[**m_lasha**](http://m-lasha.livejournal.com/) asked for "Four years after SGA ends, Joe and David find themselves auditioning for the same role in a new sci-fi show. How does their reunion go now that both men are divorced and available?" I cheated a bit in that they're not up for the same role, but hopefully this little bit of wish fulfillment hits the spot. :)


End file.
